White House quietly changes statement on Joe Biden’s relationship to Hunter’s businesses

Spokespeople for the White House have long stated that the commander-in-chief never spoke with Hunter about the subject, however in recent weeks they have shifted, now suggesting only that he never directly took part in the deals that were made.

RealClearPolitics' Phil Wegmann grilled White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the change in phrasing during Wednesday's briefing.

"You said that nothing has changed when you were asked about the president's previous remarks on his son's business dealings," Wegmann began, "but the language has, in fact, changed."

He reminded Jean-Pierre that the president previously said he "has never discussed overseas business dealings with his son," and questioned why the White House now suggested he was simply never in business with Hunter.

"Why the updated language?" Wegmann asked. "Which statement is true? Or is this semantics and they're both true?"

Jean-Pierre responded by claiming that "nothing has changed" regarding the White House's position on the matter.

"You could ask me a million different ways on this question," she said. "Nothing has changed."

The press secretary's failure to explain drew the ire of House Republican conference chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik.

"The facts are the facts," she said in a statement to RealClearPolitics. "The White House has changed their statement on Hunter Biden. The American people are smart and no matter how many times the Biden White House claims otherwise, they know that the White House is lying."

Stefanik has been on a mission to get to the bottom of Biden's relationship with his son's business dealings. On July 20, she and other House Republicans penned a letter to White House Counsel Stuart Delery urging the administration to come clean to the American people.

She highlighted a July 2017 Whatsapp message recently obtained by the House Ways and Means Committee in which Hunter claimed to a Chinese businessman that his father, Joe, was in the room with him.

Stefanik called on the White House to address the message, and explain the changing language used by Biden's spokespeople.